Do Nargles Like Lemons?
by maggalina
Summary: Draco has an apparation mishap and ends up in the middle of Luna's Nargle experiment. In Peru!
1. Chapter 1

beta'ed by the wonderful and lovely MrsBates93

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The Peruvian jungles were not known to be forgiving. Not only were there unknown and poisonous plants and animals which held magical properties, the deeper in the forest you went the more magical and dangerous they became.

Luna Lovegood had no problem dealing with these creatures. Most of them were just cranky because they had Nargles pestering them. What creature wouldn't be irritable if they were being harassed all day and night? Goodness knows what Nargles did to people let alone Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. However when angered these usually peaceful creatures could attack at a moment's notice, especially if their young were around.

Luna started to write in her field journal when she heard a very feminine scream. Rushing out of her tent she took out her wand and said, "Point Me" before veering off to the left. What she saw surprised her, there was a little baby Snorkack pawing at a tree, a very large collection of Nargles surrounding it, and Draco Malfoy hiding high up in the boughs of the tree.

"Oh, come here little baby. It's okay. I've got you. I'll make the Nargles go away," Luna comforted the calf with gentle soothing words, stroking its little horn. She then took out a vial of lemon juice and sprinkled it across the ridge of its back. The smell of citrus repelled most of the Nargles and the others soon followed. The calf stopped pawing at the tree and relaxed. It nudged Luna with its horn as a sign of thanks and ambled off to find its mother. Luna went to attend to the frightened man hiding in the tree.

"Draco? Are you coming down? It's perfectly safe. The Nargles have gone."

"The what are gone? Is that what that beast was called? It tried to impale me! Wait you mean there was more than one of them?"

"The 'beast' as you call it was a Crumple-Horned Snorkack and you are very lucky to have seen one. It is one of the world's most peaceful creatures, and no matter what you would have done it would not have impaled you, no matter how many Nargles were around it. Don't be so quick to judge, Draco Malfoy or I will find a creature here that will impale you! Trust me, it wouldn't be that hard!" Luna exclaimed, stamping her foot on the ground and glared at Draco which could have stopped even Lord Voldemort in his tracks.

"Bloody hell, I'm sorry. It's just an animal what does it matter anyway? To more important matters where the hell am I? I was about to apparate to work and the next thing I know I'm here and without my wand. I swear when my father hears about this..."

"Oh, poor you. You don't even seem to care about that calf you scared half to death! You are just lucky it was a Snorkack you scared or you wouldn't have been so lucky. Now come back with me to my camp so I can figure out what to do with you."

Luna and Draco walked the brief distance to Luna's camp and she sat him down by the fire with a can of beans so he would shut up. She entered her tent to grab her field journal so she could write about the continued success of lemon juice as a repellent against Nargles. When she returned however she found Draco staring at the can like he had no clue what it was. It was only then that she realized he was a Pureblood who had been served by house elves all of his life.

Of course he wouldn't know what to do.

"They are beans, Draco. In a can. It is a cheap muggle food that's easy to carry. I don't exactly have grocery stores around here."

"So you expect me to eat muggle food?"

"Don't tell me you have never had beans before Draco?"

"Possibly, but they would have been grown in a magical garden and they would have been...fresh."

"Wipe that sneer off your face Mr Malfoy! I have been very nice to you. I packed very little more than I needed and yet I am still sharing with you. So you can at least be thankful!"

"Why should I thank you Lovegood? What I don't understand is why you won't just take me home. Why did you not do that in the first place? Why did it get to this point of you trying to feed me muggle food?"

"Well Draco, you see, I am on a very important magic-zoology expedition and I cannot introduce outside variables. You are trouble enough, but to have British scents on me as I deal with the animals? I have no idea what affect it would have. Speaking of which, I should have done this a while ago. Aguamenti!" she said as she sprayed him down. She then transfigured a pair of her clothes to fit him and demanded he change.

"Why should I!? You just sprayed me with ice cold water for no apparent reason! And you expect me to put on your smelly jungle clothes? As a replacement for my robes?"

"Either you change into these clothes or I will leave you to the animals. If I leave you to the animals that would be an unanticipated change in their diet so it would be better if you just do as I say. However, if you don't, I really can't have you stinking up my campsite. That London smell really attracts the Nargles and I'm afraid it will mess...no it would definitely mess up my experiment and that is something I cannot afford this far into it."

"Fine, I'll change. But I want to leave as soon as possible."

"Well…"

Draco walked off before she could finish. Unfortunately for the both of them Luna had five days before she could leave the jungle, and that would only happen if the Nargles were constantly repelled by the lemon juice. If there was a change she would have to start the process from scratch. To add to her misfortune, this was Luna's fifth attempt and it was usually at the fifteen day point when the Nargles became immune to the repellent, and that was two days away.

She didn't even want to think about what Draco's reaction would be when she told him he might have to stay here for another five days, or maybe another twenty-five days depending on her progress. She really didn't want to think about how she would ration the food for the next five days. She only had six day' worth of food left as it was. Though, if he wouldn't eat canned muggle food it might not be a problem.

She took the time he was gone to set up the extra tent for him as well as putting in some of her other extras. An extra sleeping bag, flashlight, pillow, romance novel. It was at that point that Draco finally returned from preening himself.

"What are you doing Lovegood?"

"I'm setting up a tent for you. You will be here for a while and even though you don't smell like London any more this is the Peruvian jungle and things will eat you. Just let me finish putting some protection charms over it."

"A while? Stay a while? How long is a while Lovegood? I hope that means that it's a late time zone thing here and you are exhausted so you will take me back tomorrow."

"More like you might return to your home in five days. If you're lucky. If not it will be a minimum of twenty-five. At least if that happens there will be a food drop in six days and I can tell them to double the amount for you. Until then we will be on half rations."

"DID YOU SAY FIVE DAYS LOVEGOOD?"


	2. Chapter 2

_Dear Jounral; _

_April 15th 2005_

_Trial 5. Day 13_

_The weather today was warm and humid. It will probably rain tonight. _

_Sun Rise: 06:15_

_Sun Set: 18:20_

_Rubbed lemon juice o back (calf). Almost all nargles left. Others followed. This is consistant with the results . _

_Plant life; Normal .  
_ _Venom from the Tentacula not affected by excess lemon juice._

_ Mimbulus Mimbletonia; smell not affected by lemon juice like it was by mashed potatos  
Bouncing bulbs restored to previous height with lemon juice following previous reduction with root beer_

_Animal Life; Normal_

_ All animals under observation show no change in behavior_

Additional Notes and Added Variables;

_Man arrived from London. Botched apparation. Made him wear my transfigured clothes. No negative side effects as of yet. _

_With additional human rations will be cut. _

_Nargle activity seemed high in untested areas. I believe they are mating. I cannot interfere or make direct observations or conclusions. _

**Dear Diary;**

**There were a lot of nargles today. But there was also Draco Malfoy. He made me lose my temper. That hasn't happned in a number of years. I wonder if it is due in part to the increase in nargles. Though Draco Malfoy is quite infuriating. I am living with him for the next five days at least. I hope he does well on low rations. It is not my fault that I cannot get any more supplies in Peru. I wish I could multiply the food by it only gives you a quarter the nutritional value when you do that. Oh well. It is only a couple of days. Hopefully I found the solution to the nargles so i can home. I miss my boys. **


End file.
